recruitDC – a new, grassroots organization debuting its first ever event on May 26, 2010 at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington, DC – aspires to create a sense of community amongst recruiting professionals in the DC metro area. The conference aims to unite metro-based recruiters in a venue conducive to collaboration, knowledge sharing and numerous learning opportunities geared at recruiting professionals seeking localized career development.

Jessica Lee, a Senior Employment Manager for APCO Worldwide, a global PR firm headquartered in D.C and editor of Fistful of Talent is the event’s Chairperson. Jessica, along with a dynamic group of recruiting community professionals, have identified the need in this community for an event to not only bring together local talent and share best practices, but lay the foundation to better connect the local recruiting community.

According to those assembling the event, the recruiting community in Washington DC has not come together in such a concerted fashion for numerous years. According to Ben Gotkin, National Recruiting Director for accounting firm RSM McGladrey and RecruitDC co-founder. “There hasn’t really been a centralized presence in our area for local recruiters for many years. There are a number of small recruiting communities here in the metro region, but we don’t really have a united front. What we are looking to give rise to here and now is a metro-based professional community, bringing together all recruiting professionals operating in the vicinity of our nation’s capitol.”

In addition to bringing area recruiters together, the recruitDC event will also showcase some visible speakers in the recruiting and HR industry, including:

· Keynote presentation by seasoned speaker of best recruiting practices Gerry Crispin of CareerXRoads entitled “Engage Them or Enrage Them: A Closer Look At the Candidate Experience in 2010”

· Finding Your Purple Squirrel - a panel led by Kelly Dingee, AIRS/The Right Thing, showcasing expert sourcing strategies to find the most difficult candidates

· “You’re a Recruiter…So, Now What? How to Make Sense of the Potential Career Paths in the Talent Acquisition Industry” - a panel of local recruiting leaders, led by Alan Strauss, Founder of the Talent Acquisition Leadership Council

· Hire a Veteran - a panel led by Gerry Crispin, showcasing that hiring veterans is not just for defense firms

· And much more – social media strategies, unconference sessions and roundtables

Over 250 metro-based recruiters are anticipated at this inaugural debut for recruitDC. “Attendees will enjoy quality content and quality speakers,” says Gotkin. “recruitDC will be all about recruiting; showcasing the best of what the local recruiting community has to offer.”

Sponsors for the event are already in place and include:

· Monster

· Indeed

· SmartBrief

· ClearedJobs.Net

· AIRS

· Jobs2Web

· Staffing Advisors

The goal, Lee, Gotkin and fellow recruiting colleagues believe, will be to cultivate the local recruiting community, plant the seeds for an ongoing dialog as well as a regular sharing of ideas and resources that will take place twice a year. “This is a very exciting time,” says Gotkin. “We have high hopes and even higher spirits about this long overdue event!”

Both Ben and Jessica share their thoughts about this exciting conference on the recruitDC YouTube channel.

To register for Recruit DC, please visit http://recruitdc.eventbrite.com.

To keep abreast of RecruitDC developments and the DC-area recruiting community, fan the recruitDC Facebook page, follow us on Twitter, subscribe to the YouTube channel , join the RBC recruitDC group and/or join the LinkedIn group.